Peabody Energy Corp. said Oct. 5 that it will temporarily idle its Shoal Creek metallurgical coal mine in Alabama due to weak demand and higher costs at the mine.

The company said that, following the recent move of one of its longwall mining panels, it will temporarily idle the mine and spend the "next several months" trying to reset operations. Customer demand for metallurgical coal continues to be "severely impacted" due to tepid demand for steel as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, Peabody stated.

While the mine is idle, Peabody plans to focus on ways to improve efficiencies and productivity. Weak demand, lower productivity rates and poor geological conditions in part of the mine contributed to the mine's higher costs in 2020.

Peabody purchased the Shoal Creek mine for $387 million in late 2018. Peabody President and CEO Glenn Kellow said in early 2019 that the mine exclusively sells metallurgical coal to Asian and European steel mills.

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